Trenton Thunder
The Trenton Thunder are an American Minor League Baseball team and are the Double-A affiliate of the New York Yankees. The Thunder play in the Northern Division of the Eastern League, and are the two-time defending league champions. The Thunder's home stadium is Mercer County Waterfront Park in Trenton, New Jersey. Team history The Trenton franchise originated in Glens Falls, New York, in 1980 as the Glens Falls White Sox. The Detroit Tigers replaced the White Sox in 1985 with the team being known as the Glens Falls Tigers, and stayed on after the franchise moved to London, Ontario, in 1989, becoming the London Tigers and playing at historic Labatt Park. In 1994, the Thunder moved to Trenton, and kept the Detroit affiliation for a season before switching affiliations to the Boston Red Sox in . As a Red Sox affiliate, the club recorded three first-place finishes, but was eliminated from the playoffs in the first round each time. In , the Thunder became aligned with the Yankees; the Red Sox adopted the Portland Sea Dogs at that time. The switch reflected both teams' fanbases, as Central New Jersey is home to a large number of Yankees fans, while Maine is home to a large number of Red Sox fans. On June 4, 1994, Phil Stidham became the first Thunder alumnus to play in the major leagues for the Detroit Tigers, giving up six runs on six hits, including two home runs, as part of a 21-7 romp by the Minnesota Twins.Phil Stidham 1994 Pitching Gamelogs - Baseball-Reference PI In , the Thunder became the first team in Minor League Baseball history to draw over 400,000 fans for 12 consecutive seasons at the Double-A level or below. Through 13 seasons, over 5.4 million people had attended a Thunder game.Trenton Thunder - PressReleases Surpassing the previous mark set of 8,729 while Derek Jeter was on a rehab stint with the team, the Thunder set a new single-game attendance record on May 23, 2007, when 9,134 fans attended to watch Roger Clemens make his second minor-league start as he worked toward a return to the Yankees. On September 15, 2007, the Thunder defeated the Akron Aeros to win their first Eastern League Championship Series in team history. Trenton defended its league title with 5-1 win over the Akron Aeros on September 14, 2008. Notable alumni Tigers *Tony Clark Red Sox *David Eckstein *Nomar Garciaparra *Shea Hillenbrand *Adam Hyzdu *Trot Nixon *Carl Pavano *Bret Saberhagen† *Jeff Suppan *John Valentin† *Kevin Youkilis Yankees *T. J. Beam *Kevin Brown† *Melky Cabrera *Andy Cannizaro *Robinson Canó *Joba Chamberlain *Roger Clemens† *Tyler Clippard *Matt DeSalvo *Octavio Dotel† *Shelley Duncan *Alberto Gonzalez *Phil Hughes *Derek Jeter† *Jeff Karstens *Ian Kennedy *Kenny Lofton† *Hideki Matsui† *Carl Pavano† *Edwar Ramirez *Omir Santos *Chien-Ming Wang *Bernie Williams† †Made only appearance(s) for franchise during rehab assignment Retired numbers *5: Nomar Garciaparra *33: Tony Clark *42: Jackie Robinson† †Jackie Robinson never played for the Trenton Thunder, but his number, 42, was retired by every Major League Baseball team and affiliate. See grandfather clause. Season records Category:Minor League Baseball teams Category:Eastern League teams Category:Teams in New Jersey Category:New York Yankees affiliates Category:AA Baseball Teams